BELATED HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

[Nasoosie]

GOOD MORNING AND A BELATED NEW YEAR TO ALL!

It ended up that, at the last minute, Melissa bit the bullet and got us reservations at Lake Marian Paradise Resort just a bit south of their house. We hauled the trailer, got a pull-through site, arrived on Friday at about noon, and had to come back yesterday as they don't have today off from work.

Friday night, New Year's Eve, the three of us were about the only ones celebrating in the entire park! Most of the residents and long-time guests are geezers, and went to bed at dark! We were trying to be oh-so-quiet while staying up what seemed to be an interminably long night so we could watch the ball drop in Times Square. We played some shuffleboard in the dark, a few people in electric golf carts drove past us and waved, but showed no interest in joining us whatsoever! We weren't sure if shuffleboard was allowed after dark or not! Later, we set up the new croquet set I got Melissa for Christmas, in the nearly pitch dark, with a lantern at each end-post area. The wickets are white vinyl-clad ones, thank heavens, so we could almost see those! Our course was in our site, on top of heavy-duty wood chip mulch on the ground-----a challenge to hit those balls straight. Luckily, nobody was in either site next to us, but one huge Class A was quite close a site over. They put out their lights at about 9:00! We held our breath to see if our balls clacking against the mallets would cause them to wake up and shout at us! We played some cribbage to kill time until the ball dropped, (we got about 30 or more TV channels broadcast over the air, including NBC) watched the last 15 minutes of that event, including poor Dick Clark who did a fantastic job talking after his serious stroke, shouted RABBITS, then Happy New Year, and should have gone to bed. However, we got out the cards for more hours of card playing. We finished off 4 bottles of Champagne that Melissa got a huge deal on...7.00 per bottle!

Saturday we had a rented pontoon boat for the entire day. The night before, as we were walking around the docks, we tried to pick out the one they would rent us. There was one decrepit, small, icky-looking one, and we were sure it would be that one! It was a really nice one, however, with a pee bucket under a little lid that, when raised up, made a private little area. Lots of comfy seats, a full tank of gas (which we did not have to replace) and that was exciting to find out. It even had a fish-finder depth thing on it.

We loaded in tons of fishing poles, a cooler full of beer and soda, some jackets, towels, my bathing suit (as my plans were to swim, but the lake was too murky to see the gators under the surface, so I opted to stay on board!) and off we went! Lake Marian is 8 miles long, and reknowned for crappy ('crappy' meaning a type of fish, not poopy!) fishing with a few bass thrown in. The wind soon got so wild out there that fishing became impossible, so we cruised in whitecaps of monster size and breaking rollers----it was more like being in the ocean than in a lake! Somewhere along the line, I took my sweatpants off with my cell phone in them, and later, when I wanted to put them back on, I realized they had gone overboard, phone and all! It was a TracFone with about 2400-2500 minutes on it, all pre-paid. My first task today is to call TracFone and see how that works. I don't want to lose those minutes.

The night after the cruise, we had a steak dinner and got totally inebriated on Recipe and whatever else we could find to drink, like eggnog and rum. So, needless to say, packing up and hauling home yesterday was not a helluva lot of fun!

To top it all off, when we tried to get the trailer back in the exact same spot at Goog's as it was parked before, the front where the jack needed to stand was a bit 'off'. When Goog got on the truck to cause the ball to release, the entire trailer slipped backwards and the trailer and jack landed on the ground with a thud! Hmmmm.....what do we do now??? (First of all, it was my stupidity that I hadn't blocked the trailer wheels to keep them in place!) Luckily, my truck jack was able to fit under the ball socket enough to finally re-hook the trailer to the truck, stabilize it, and get it into place! What should have taken about 5 minutes took us over an hour in the heat.

I see that no one started a morning coffee thread yesterday, which must mean that either everyone was sleeping all day, or you were all too busy, as I was! We had no reception at the campsite, and, although Melissa had her WiMi card, we never used it.

So now to call TracFone and then go buy me another phone and, hopefully, get my units transfered to a new one. At least I have my manual with my old ID number in it, so they can cancel that one. Then I also need to return to the trailer to get my camera, Molly's heartworm and flea and tick meds, and a few other things I forgot yesterday. I will also put the furnace on low and leave the hot water heater on to protect against another cold spell headed our way. Pictures will have to wait until tonight. My one red rose is even more spectacular this morning than it was when I took its picture the other day.

Happy 2011 to everyone!

[Liz]

Good morning Soos! And all the late-comers too. Glad you got a chance to go camping....it was such a great weekend weather-wise. And the trailer parking glitch was just practice, that's all.

I was amazed at how quickly it got very dark out at the cg where I was, and Joselyn and I felt like old fogies as we prepared for reading in bed and then realized it was only 7:30! The next nights we made it a point to play a game that would keep us up longer. Didn't wait for the ball to drop though.
I had to laugh at your comment about whether shuffleboard was allowed after dark.

Thanks for reminding me about the pets flea & tick/heartworm meds. I had totally forgotten them.

Today is laundry & clean out the RV. Taking it again Wed. to my DD's in Dade City to babysit the gs for two days, then Friday my DD has surgery on both her feet (bunions). I will take her for that and stay over until Saturday, as SIL has to work. Having the RV will give me my own bed & space at night anyway.

[mtngal]

Hi Soos and Liz! the first Monday of the New Year isn't really late.... Isn't that the day for the new diet, exercise program, budget?!?

Sounds like a very fun NY eve Soos, but mine was more like Liz. Except for so many fire works around town. The radio had said sales were up and they were right. I'm just barely high enough to see some at the top of their flight. That was fun!

It's cool here, but forecast to be warmer towards middle of week....maybe time to plan a camping trip. I've stayed close to home over the holidays. But want to be home for a bird walk at McKinney State Park on Sat morning. Oh decisions, decisions!

Take care all, and have a fun day...

[retiredhappy]

Soos, I'm afraid I was one of those old foggies. Was in bed and asleep by 11pm. The park here had some really nice fireworks at 10. I watched them from the bedroom window. My dogs DO NOT LIKE fireworks. Sassy is really scared of the noise and wants under the covers until it all stops. Buddy gets real clingy (more than usual) and Sophie doesn't care as long as she's next to me. Its been getting cold here at night - thank heavens for three WARM dogs.

Hope the New Year will be a good one for everybody. My daughter has an interview with the Kerrville Library tomorrow - good hours, medical and retirement. I've got everything crossed that I can cross. The mini mart she's working at has had her doing the closing every night which means she dealing with lots of drunks by herself and the place is out of town quite a ways and I don't think she's really safe alone out there but it is close to her house. I really worry tho. The guy that's supposed to work with her calls in sick a lot.

[Bethers]

Soos - just a note - we had 3 pages on the morning post yesterday - I think being retired and your New Year's celebrating have you date challenged

Still morning here. Just went to the office and paid for another week. Was originally told I had to change sites if I stayed longer, but the folks in there today didn't enforce it. Did tell me the "boss" would be in tomorrow and could. We'll see. They don't allow more than 2 weeks in pull throughs. I took the pull through because I arrived at night - didn't want to unhook and do the backing in in the dark if not necessary. Now I'm just lazy - don't want to move if I don't have to. They aren't full this time of year, so the folks in the office didn't think I should have to either

Today I'm starting work on a website I need to build - this one is a job for a friend who is also a customer for this, so need to do it right and timely. Probably good that I'm staying a week - have the time to play with it. And, yes, the original designing, etc, for me is play.

Have a great day all.

[Echo]

GOOD MORNING SISTAHS!!!

Dang Soos! I think maybe you were the only WILD WOMAN out of all of us. What a night you had. hehehehehe I think that recipe still has a hold of ya too. There's 3 pages of posts for yesterday, Sunday, in the coffee thread! Shake that recipe out of your head and get some coffee in ya!

Of course there's nothing much going on here. The *(%$# new guy across the lane, the one who broke the water faucet is a real gem! I had Shade out for her morning P and he let his Lab out on the loose while he stayed inside and shut the door!!!! Just let the dog run loose!!! Scared the bejeebers out of me and I grabbed Shade and picked her up. She was fit to be tied that the Lab was running around. I waited to see if anyone would come out? Nope not until about 8 or 10 minutes later. Then he had to drive around looking for the dog, stopped and asked me if I had seen what way it headed! GOOD GRIEF!!! Now I don't hook shade up when I take her out. She stays right here in our site or Jodies and I clean up after her when she poops. Jodie has already had to clean up one pile from that neighbors dog at the bottom of her steps. I think today I will see about catching up with the manager here and put a bug in her ear!!!!

Thankfully the weather is suppose to warm up at least a little bit this coming week. Calling for mid 30's as the highs and mid teens for the lows. Can handle that with no problem. The two electric heaters keep it nice and warm in here at those temps!!! Kinda wish I could get my hands on one of those kero heaters that look like a jet engine and a couple of LONG tarps. Then I would wrap the tarps around the bottom of the trailer and stick that heater under it to thaw my pipes out. Jodie is so furious at that guy for screwing things up. She still has NO water at all at and can't get to her pipes either! To tell the truth? She's got a wicked temper on her and I'm just waiting for that Lab to poop on her site again!!! Yep! I think we would see some fireworks of a different sort then!!! For sure would liven things up around here for a bit.

OK, enough blathering and rambling. Hope everyone has a great day and stays safe.

Love to all

[Echo]

Soos - just a note - we had 3 pages on the morning post yesterday - I think being retired and your New Year's celebrating have you date challenged

Have a great day all.

Yep, yep, yep. It's the residual effects of that recipe!!!

[dayspring39]

Morning is gone... Afternoon has dawned... I have been cleaning and defrosting my frig... I have had a frost free forever so this is a new thing for me... the frig temp got to 50 last night so I thought time to defrost... the freezer was at 10 so that was good... now that it is finished will let it cool down for an hour before I put things back in the frig part... what a pain in such a small area... but whew it is done...
My new year was slow... did laundry at least part of it... no celebration for me... Sunday was very slow as I did not feel well at all... today I am feeling full of energy... this is good as that nearly never happens to me... lol
I like the new blog Liz... Soos so glad you are having family time that is a blessing as you do not get to see them often enough... oops I almost forgot to give Shadow his monthly pill thanks for the reminder... sounds like all of you great people have many things to do and think about...
My day will be spent trying to get things taken care of... the laundry is now in piles on my bed... will have to take care of it or sleep on the floor...
Take care everyone and enjoy the day...
Kathleen

[BarbaraRose]

Soos, sounds like you guys had a blast this weekend!!! Good for you! You had a lot to celebrate! Retirement, winter in Florida, kids with new home, etc! Hope you have even more great things happening in the new year! I was in bed on New Years Eve by 8:30 but that was because I had to be up by 4am to go down to watch the Rose Parade in person! One more thing checked off my bucket list!

Also, Soos, you WILL get your minutes saved and transferred to a new phone. I have a Tracfone and when I forgot my phone in Salt Lake City, I bought a new one and had my minutes transferred over right away. If you don't already have the Double Minutes deal, get that. It is really worth it and saves you a lot of money down the road.

I worked all day yesterday and have today off. It is raining again today so will stay home and get some things done around here. Was nice to sleep in this morning! The lower mountains are getting snow right now, so that should be pretty to see from here once the sun comes out again. I will have snowcapped mountains on three sides of me, instead of just two!

Gonna go do laundry now and frost my hair! Hope you all have a great day and a great new year!